


Lost my Heart on the Carousel

by AetherBunny



Category: Captain America (Movies), Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Circus, Circus, Fluff, Humor, Multi, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-19 14:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2391974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherBunny/pseuds/AetherBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Friends and neighbors, families and thrill seekers thank you for your excellent taste, you have chosen well tonight. Nobody and I mean nobody leaves Colonel Fury's Human Circus with a frown. We are here to amaze and delight you with one of a kind acts and oddities. If at any time you are dissatisfied with what you see before you, we invite you to come up to the center ring and do better. But don't do too well, we just might keep you."</p><p>Clint Barton just wanted to have a nice afternoon off at the circus but he had no idea what he was getting himself into. </p><p>AU where everybody is in the circus *but* Clint, and really all the relationships are up to interpretation.<br/>Tags for language and mentions of lots of sex</p><p>This could become a series?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Conceived after the -enth listening to Michael Jackson's Carousel, but it ends much happier I promise.

It was a crisp afternoon in late September, the sun was bright and warm without any of the sticky summer heat. Clint double checked that his car doors locked, jammed his hands into his pockets and set out for the fairgrounds. The child like thrill in his stomach crept back in as the big top neared. He would gladly admit without embarrassment he loved the circus. His brother used to take him back when they were young and on speaking terms, but that was a long time ago. Hopefully it would be just as fun on his own.

He paid admission near the midway area and took it all in for a second. Where to start? He was closest to the rows and rows of carnival games so why not?

After giving his third over sized stuffed animal to a passerby he wondered if the games were always that easy and he was too young to get it last time he tried.

“Those are supposed to be rigged against you you know.” Said the woman beside him he hadn't noticed before. She was slim, red-headed, and dressed in a pair of track pants and a t-shirt.

“Uh, I don't think so?” He wasn't sure how to respond to that.

“I'm pretty sure they are.” She continued with a smile.

“No way, it's a little physics, a little concentration, no biggie.” 

“Uh huh. Okay how about the shooting gallery then?” She turned and headed off towards the booth and Clint found himself following.

“Come on.” She handed him the game riffle.

“Were you just standing around watching me before?”

“Yeah.” 

“That's not weird at all.” 

'Just shoot handsome.” 

He scowled a little at the nickname, but took aim anyway. After making all his marks he turned to her. 

“You know I didn't come to the circus today to get bossed around by some strange red-head with a midway fetish.” She glared at him, he had put his foot in his mouth much quicker than usual. 

“Natasha.” She offered her hand after a moment's consideration.

“Clint.” He took it and she held on a little longer than necessary. Long enough for him to notice how strangely calloused they were. “Are we friends now?”

“Just a couple more, and I'll show you something cool.”

“Please tell me it's not a body in your van?” 

“Nah, just some intestines in the glove compartment. C'mon.” She took him first to ski ball and then to the water gun race, both of which he won with ease. He passed her the large stuffed pony he earned for his efforts.

“Here, since I can't think of any other reason you would want me to beat all these dumb games.” She stared at him again, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.“What? Do I get to see the intestines now?”

“Yep, come on.”

Clint sighed as she lead him away from the rides and towards the large side show sign.

“Heeeyyy pretty lady, did your boyfriend there win you that?” The barker at the side show stage called to her as they passed. 

“Shut up Wilson.” She called back as she lead Clint to the back alley way between the tents.

“I'm not sure we should - “

“Don't worry about it.” They wound around the outside of a large tent before finding a clearing and a pair of smaller ones. She lead him directly to a man sleeping outside one of the tents. One arm under his neck the other thrown over his eyes. Clint noticed with some amusement a pair of dogs curled up beside him and the smallest whitest rabbit he had ever seen resting on the man's chest.

“Bruce, hey Brucie.” The dogs perked up before he did. “Doc.”

“Yeah?” the man answered without opening his eyes. 

“Have you seen Coulson today?”

“No, he's not in, comes in tomorrow though.”

“Thanks, sorry I woke you.”

“That's okay hon. I should be making the rounds anyway.” Natasha ducked into one of the tents and left the pony behind before leading him back out to the sideshow entrance. 

“And where were you missy? Hmmm?” The barker was on Natasha again when they got to the tent opening. “Does dad know you brought a boy home?”

“I will make you eat your hat Wade, you know I will.”

“I look forward to it Romanov!” He blew her a kiss as they disappeared into the tent.

“You work here don't you?” Clint stopped her before she could lead him further in.

“Gosh what was your first clue.”

“Tasha!” Somebody called her name and she slipped away evading the rest of his questions. It did give him a chance to take everything in. The tent wasn't too crowded as it was still within the work and school day, he guessed about 4 PM the crowds would begin to gather.  
Small stages or tables were set around the perimeter and in the center was a huge sledge like hammer dug into the ground. 

“Come test your strength with The Hammer of Thor!” The banner challenged. Posters matching the design were up on the tent walls advertising the acts underneath. Natasha was over near a blond man in front of an easel.

“It looks great Steve!” he could hear her say to the man as he got closer. “Tony's gonna love it.” 

“Do you think HE will like it?”

“I don't think he likes anything, but maybe that bird of his.” 

“God awful weird that guy.” A scruffy looking heavily tattooed man in an old tank top had come over to join them.

“Says the man who bypasses his gag reflexes with swords.”

“Whatever old man.”

“Asshole.”

“Goody two shoes”

“Geek”

“Punk”

“Boys!” Natasha barked at them. “This is Clint.” She motioned at him where he had been hanging back. 

'Nice to meet you I'm Steve” The clean cut blond got up to greet him. “That delinquent is Bucky.” The latter waved and Clint got a clear view of his prosthetic arm.

“I want him to meet Coulson.”

“No way, what's he do?” Bucky got closer to him.

“Back up Barnes, you don't want to scare him away. He doesn't know anything yet. Steve can you do a little something for me?” She leaned it to whisper something and Clint pretended to look the other way. Bucky on the other hand got closer. 

“So what do you do?” He repeated.

“Um, I'm in construction? Private contracting company.” 

“Yeah Tash, I can get a little something done before the crowd comes in for the night. It's not going to be polished or anything.” Steve put his hand on Bucky's shoulder to steer him away from Clint.  
“I just think he's going to take a little convincing and your stuff is the best.”

“Aw, thanks.”

“It's not that good.” Bucky added. 

“You're covered in it you bully!” Steve snapped back.

Natasha guided Clint away from the bickering pair and through the tent to see the other performers.  
A man billed as “The Thing” was causing a bunch of college age guys to squirm by hammering a nail up his nose. 

“The Incredible Nightcrawler” was chatting with a beautiful woman with a snow white mo-hawk. He was perched just so on the back of an over-sized arm chair that Clint could see the odd shapes of his fingers and toes.

The small stage featuring “The Richards” was empty.

“It's nice when it's not so crowded, we have a little time to relax, those two are probably off 'practicing' ” She explained to him wiggling her eyebrows at the last word.

“Ah Natasha, come here my dear. You haven't seen Tony today have you?”

“No sorry Erik, but I'll let him know you're looking for him if I do.

“Thank you dear.” The tired old man turned his attention back to a chess game with a bald man in a wheelchair.

“Erik and Charles have been in the business for ages. They're some of the best in the business, but nobody in their right mind would take on two men their age. Fury's is sort of a home for strays.”

“What do they do?”

“Charles is “Professor X”, mentalist extraordinaire, he was in a tent collapse accident years and years ago, left him paralyzed, nobody wanted him for a big top after that. Erik “The Great Magneto”was the best magician you could hope to see. Huge scale extravagant tricks with honest talent to back up the flash. The two of them went everywhere together and some people say Erik caused the accident that lead to the collapse. If he did Charles isn't bitter, and Erik walked out when he found out they fired him. Anyway, Erik retired last year and nobody around here would dare separate them again, so he's come with on the tour. His box-jumper Kitty is still deciding if she wants to stay or go back to school.” She paused for a moment. “Are you coming to the show tonight?”

“Uh, yeah I was planning on it?”

“Good.” There was a longer more awkward pause after that.

“So what was the cool thing you wanted to show me?”

“Oh, um, he's not here today. You'll have to come back tomorrow. Can you come back tomorrow? I'll get you a comp ticket?”

“Yeah alright.” He rubbed his temples. 

“Good. So what do you want to do now?”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well you just got here and I harassed you and dragged you all around, and maybe you had something you wanted to do here?”

“Oh, no, not really. Just um, take it all in.”

“I can go then?” She offered. “I mean I'll have to eventually. Call and everything.”

“No, you can stay. It's more fun with somebody else. I just don't know how fun you find funnel cake and fast spinning rides? I mean you live this stuff, so - ?” he trailed off and punctuated it with a shrug.

“They're fun, I don't usually wander the midway, especially not on my own. Bucky comes some times but he can be a handful.”

“How long do you have?”

“Until 6.”

“So an hour of fried food and dizziness? Got it” 

It turned into more of a half our of waiting in line. The evening crowd was out in force. 

“Come on, this one is my favorite and the line is short.” She tugged his wrist.

“The carousel?”

The pair of them were shuffled to a static bench seat, the galloping animals all taken up by children. She leaned it when it began to spin and he watched her mouth.

“It's beautiful. Tony carved them all by hand.”

“What!?” There were two dozen delicately carved creatures, it was hard to believe one man had carved them all on his own.

“I mean he's kind of a pain in the ass when he's that manic, but the man really knows his stuff. You should see the puppets up close.” She was grinning and all lit up from the lights, and the world was spinning all around them and Clint thought he had never had a more beautiful experience in his entire life. He was on a carousel with some woman he barely knew and he might never see again after tomorrow, but he was too ecstatic to care. The smile stayed on her face when they got off and it made Clint feel a little dopey.

“Oh shit, you have ten minutes we didn't even get a corn dog.” 

“No thanks.” She wrinkled her nose. “Walk me back?”

“Yeah anything.” She grinned at him again.

“I have to say goodbye now, I mean, there are notes after the show and then they demand we get a good nights sleep.”

“How dare they.”

“The grounds open at 11 AM tomorrow, there is a family matinee at 2 and another normal show at 7. Can you come at 11?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, I'll meet you by the balloon popping game.”

“Where you snuck up on me.”

“Yeah.” She looked up at him through her lashes, and then touched the side of his face. “Good night Clint.”

“Good night Natasha.”

He waited a moment or so before cursing himself.

“No, no, no, Barton. You can't go falling for the strange pretty serial killer circus girl. Uhhhh.” Even so he could not contain his excitement. He got a ticket and paced around until 6:30 when he decided it was a reasonable time to go get a seat. After all that time together he never found out what Natasha actually did, and he was anxious to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

He bought a popcorn to keep himself sort of occupied and sat on his program so as not to leaf through it and spoil any surprises, as the seats filled in around him. Finally, at long last, the lights dimmed. Down in the arena smoke poured from a back door and a silvery metallic figure emerged under a spotlight. It had a surprisingly cool pleasant British voice, and Clint couldn't decide if there was a person in it or not.

“Welcome guests to Colonel Fury's Human Circus. Video taking and photography are allowed, but please be courteous to your fellow patrons. Be aware of the nearest exits in case of an emergency, and be aware of the accessibility of all patrons.” It gave a smooth bow and then “Finally may I introduce our ringmaster Colonel Fury himself.

On his cue Fury stepped forward and Clint knew right away why this man was ringmaster, he absolutely oozed command. Tall, regally dressed down to his eye patch hinting and perhaps rougher character. He opened his arms wide and welcomed the cheering crowd.

“Friends and neighbors, families and thrill seekers thank you for your excellent taste, you have chosen well tonight. Nobody and I mean nobody leaves Colonel Fury's Human Circus with a frown. We are here to amaze and delight you with one of a kind acts and oddities. If at any time you are dissatisfied with what you see before you, we invite you to come up to the center ring and do better. But don't do too well, we just might keep you.” He chuckled. “Now without further ado, your entertainment for the evening.” The crowd cheered again as the lights changed and the acts began to parade out.

First came a couple in matching costumes smiling and waving, acrobats maybe it was hard to tell, at least until he spotted the next set of people. THOSE were the acrobats he was a little surprised to see Steve from the sideshow tent among them. He was towards the back leading a huge draft horse with, oh... OH. There was Natasha, riding bareback and absolutely radiant. After her Bucky, and three other men, Clint recognized The Thing, one of them was in another android looking suit and he could have sworn the final man was Steve again, this time with shorter, darker hair. Following them came the strong man obviously and he was pulling what he figured was a single Tesla coil flanked by two extravagantly dressed performers without a clear act. Behind them another animatronic looking thing, another even larger draft horse with extra sets of legs. He was so interested in the way the legs moved he almost forgot to watch for the performers with it. Sitting atop the great beast was a sleek looking man in a great horned helmet and a very small young woman. He didn't spend long thinking about them because then three other worldly figures entered the arena. The crowd roared in excitement. What appeared to be a tree, and a pair of aliens, or one of them was a robot? It was hard to tell with all that was going on around him. The audience calmed themselves when Fury addressed them once again.

“Friends and Neighbors, families and thrill seekers we are proud to bring you tonight's performers!”

As the acts filed out their nearest back stage exits the couple from the front of the parade were introduced. Turns out they were the Richards from the side show tent, and they were contortionists. He wasn't sure if he had ever seen contortionists before but they were definitely grotesquely fascinating. Bird cages, suitcases, toilet seats, tennis rackets, there was nothing that could keep them in. Clint was not by any means a squeamish person, but he was glad when they took their bow. 

The acrobats were next, a troop of four fit younger men. Each of their leotards had a different symbol on them to make them easy to identify from a distance. Steve's had a big white star on the chest, there was also a falcon like bird, a spider and a ghoulish smiling face. They started with some gymnastic stuff, it usually involved Steve as tossing or catching or supporting as he was without a doubt the largest of them. The worked their way up to the trapeze and began their aerial portion. Falcon and Spider seemed to be a little more comfortable taking the larger death defying leaps than the other two. Then as an added bonus it seemed Spider and Ghouly Face were pretty good at aerial silks as well. 

Natasha was introduced next and something classical he didn't recognize began to play. She entered with four horses, two of them draft and two smaller varieties. Only the two smaller ones had saddles he noted. She began by lining up the Drafts side by side and executing an impressive mount. She worked them to a gallop around the arena ring and when they were moving smoothly enough stood up to place a foot on each. She did a few laps before slowing them to dismount. The horses bowed and she gave them each something from her pocket (probably a sugar cube he thought) before sending them back. The third horse she demonstrated a little dressage riding including a few jumps, and the fourth horse was her finale. Getting it up to a good clip she did a series of impressive gymnastic maneuvers as it circled the arena. The crowd cheered wildly as she and the final horse took their bows. 

The daredevils followed Natasha, Fury introduced them as Iron Man and the Human Torch, Bucky and The Thing were brought out as well. The Torch had a little motocross bike and Iron Man some sort of exoskeleton. Torch did some standard jumps over Iron Man, then him and Bucky then the two of them plus The Thing. Next Bucky set up a couple of small ramps while The Thing gathered the pieces for something in the background. Then Torch just ran up the ramps and straight over his partner who stood up completely unharmed and waved to a supportive audience. Then it was time to learn how the Human Torch got his name. A suspended hoop was lowered from the support beams. He jumped through it once with no extra flash, but the next time as he passed through the hoop Bucky breathed a plume of fire lighting the hoop. It turns out the thing begin assembled in the background was a spherical metal cage. Iron Man was brought a bike as well and the two of them readied themselves for the next stunt. They revved the engines and whirled around the cage crisscrossing each others path's and building speed. After they exited Bucky signaled for quiet, then made an announcement as a short muzzled cannon was brought out. 

“Other circuses, other attractions, you would find a man being launched from a cannon a little like this one. And you might think to yourself that cannon looks a little small, and this arena isn't long enough anyway. Well friends it's my job to inform you we do not launch human beings from cannons here at the Human Circus, we catch cannon balls! Quiet now, quiet!” He instructed as Iron Man took his mark with his back to the un- populated area of the arena and they lined the cannon up. The crowd watched silently as the cannon was loaded and Bucky counted down. “Five, four, three, two, one, fire!” And the cannon did, the force of the impact knocked the incredible Iron Man back a foot or so, but the cannon ball was caught and he was once again unharmed.

Intermission was announced by the same cool British voice that had welcomed them and Clint stood and stretched. He let a few people through to get out to the aisle and then picked up the program. He leafed through it learning about all the performers in turn. Reed and Sue Richards met at the circus and then married a few years later, Sue is the sister of Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, the Steve look-alike.

The Spider and the Ghoul face were Peter and Harry, childhood friends. Peter was born to an acrobat couple, and Harry had run away to join him at some point. 

It turns out Natasha was a trained ballerina and occasionally performed some tricks with the acrobats (including tightrope walking!). 

A handful of the performers were military veterans Bucky, Sam the other acrobat, Steve, and Fury himself all served their country.

He could tell there were a lot of stories not being told on the pages, and probably for good reasons.

It appeared act 2 was set up as some kind of story or had a loose plot, but he really didn't want to spoil that either so he just stretched again and waited for the lights to dim.

Eleven minutes later the lights were out and the crowd was ready to be wowed again, and Fury had saved the best for last.

A strangely assembled pair of Tesla coils had been set up during intermission and the next act was introduced. Storm and Electro, less flamboyantly dressed than before in blank white full body suits took a bow before the climbed the ladders to the platforms over the heads. The coils hummed to life underneath them and soon they were shooting off little bolts of lightening. They manipulated the electricity with a little choreography and then the coils were powered down for their assistant to bring them short staffs of some kind. After a little more choreography the lights shifted and they began to duel. The electricity getting stronger any time they neared one another, at last red lit Storm was victorious over the blue lit Electro. She vanquished him with a clap of thunder that sent the arena into darkness. Light was restored quickly by the coils illuminating something between them that wasn't there before. It was a large Faraday cage protecting something inside. The arena lights were brought back up and Thor the strong man exited the cage. 

Clint can see how he got the nickname, the guy was huge with long blonde hair. And He was wielding the impossible hammer from the side show tent. He tore phone books, bent a crowbar, held back The Torch on his bike. He lifted a delicately balance Natasha and then a just as delicately balanced Peter. 

He was about to execute another trick when he was suddenly frozen in place. There was a sinister chuckle and the thin pale man with the horns appeared with a crack. 

“You Thor! See here how your strength is nothing against the magic of Loki!” He waived a scepter with a blue glowing cube of some kind between two points and in a whirl he vanished. He reappeared on top of one of the dormant Tesla platforms and removed his cape. The small young woman took it from him and fastened it to some hooks on the ground. As it was raised the cape grew in size until it cold have easily hid an elephant. Loki snatched it suddenly from the hooks and revealed an immense ferocious looking wolf constructed a lot like the eight legged horse from earlier. It stalked towards Thor with impressively fluid movements before closing his huge jaws around him, and stalking out of the arena. 

Loki continued his magic act with little tricks at such speeds you could hardly tell he was doing them. One moment he was here, the next he was across the arena and there was a raven in his place. His poor little assistant was vanished just as often only to reappear in crates or boxes, some times she seemed to just phase through whatever he had put her closest to. She was levitated, nearly drowned and beheaded.

Just as he was about to subject her to some terrible looking iron maiden they were interrupted.

“Loki! Release her, and return Thor!” 

“Who are you to command me!”

“I am Star Lord and we are the Guardians of the Galaxy!” The space man looking figure emerged followed by the android woman and the moving tree. 

“I listen to no one! Return to me my pet!” He called and the wolf returned to do battle with the Guardians. While they were fighting Loki tried to escape only to be captured by the android. The fight was fierce but the tree gave it's life to defeat the wolf. Star Lord retrieved Thor and the world was safe again. It was a tremendous end to the show and it brought the audience to their feet with wild applause.

Clint was still adrenaline high when he got to his car, but lucky for him he fell asleep fast with thoughts of the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it's unclear, Quill, Gamora and Drax are working the Star Lord, Nebula and Groot puppets...


	3. Chapter 3

Clint woke up a little earlier than he had wanted and had to fill the time. He decided to shower and then look up information about the circus online. They had a website and promo photos that revealed a lot more. 

Turns out Steve was pretty much entirely responsible for the art of his fellow performers. Prints could be ordered and he had to stop himself from adding the one of Natasha to his cart. 

Bruce, the man who had been a sleep in front of the tents, had an animal act he didn't perform the night before, but the audience did look like mostly children. There were a few of Bucky with him and Clint could finally get a good look at his arm without any awkward moments. It was a work of art in and of itself the articulation in his fingers alone looked true to life. He wondered where on earth he had gotten it. Then he probably promptly got it covered in art to match the rest of his body. The largest tattoo was a red star on his shoulder.

There was a brief bit about the circuses' commitment to supporting the military, particularly in finding jobs for veterans. The whole security team was made up of entirely vets and a handful of them had served with Steve and Bucky directly.

There was another page on their animal performers, assuring the public they never used exotic animals and all their non human performer received the best care possible. 

Their puppets were build with the help of an an artist out of New York, Otto Octavious.

The page dedicated to the troupe featured a little bit on the retirement of the Great Magneto and the hiring of the new magician Loki.

Not soon enough it was time to head out to the fairgrounds. He got to the gate before he realized he never did get that comp ticket. 

“Shit.” 

“Oh, wait, you must be the will-call ticket, can I see your ID?”

“Yeah here? How could you tell?”

“One of the circus people, a red-headed chick brought it to us this morning, she said if there is some kind of serious looking dude named Clint the ticket was for him.”

“Uh huh, okay, well thanks.”

He made his way to the balloon game and Natasha was already waiting for him, this time there was a guy in a suit with her. 

“Phil Coulson, talent.” he introduced himself. 

“Clint Barton, hi.”

“Natasha tells me you have quite a skill.”

“I don't think being good at carnival games is a skill really.”

“Just trust us here.” Natasha added. He rubbed his temples again. 

“Sure I'll bite. What do you want me to win this time?”

“No games this afternoon I'm afraid, we have something better.” Coulson smiled at him. “Come with us.” They led him straight to the big top and into the arena. Some of the performers and tech crew were there warming up for the day. At the far end was a large piece of scrap wood with the outline of a person on it. 

“Okay, I hate to rain on any parades here, but what is going on?”

Coulson looked to Natasha who just shrugged. 

“I see she did a lot to prepare you. I'm in charge of hiring the acts for the circus, my friend here spotted something in you she thinks is worthy of an audition.”

Clint could feel his mouth hanging open. 

“What?”

“A little physics, a little concentration, no problem, right Clint?” She had the nerve to wink at him.

“Yeah, I uh, guess so.”

“I found the knives!” It was Bucky dashing to them from across the arena wooden box in hand. 

“You're not supposed to run with those things.” Coulson scolded.

“What will happen, I'll cut something off?” Bucky wiggled his synthetic fingers, Coulson sighed and turned to Clint.

“Just don't hit the person, don't worry about technique or time, just get as close as you can to the outline.”

“I posed for it just for you.” Natasha beamed.

“What will happen then?”

“If you do poorly we say thank you and enjoy your afternoon at the circus, we can find a t shirt or poster for you if you'd like. If it goes well we talk about you joining the crew.”

“Oh...okay.” He closed his eyes to give himself a moment and he opened them imagining this was just another game of darts at the bar. He fiddled with the dagger for a moment getting a feel for the weight. Deep breath in, and out, and there it goes. It wound up a little lower than where he wanted it, but not any closer to the lines. He went for his next throw, compensating for the height better this time. 

Just where he wanted it. Three, four five all right where he wanted them. 

“Good.” Coulson's praise was simple but honest. “Any other talents we should know about? Languages you can speak?”

“I've been told I'm okay at karaoke but there is always booze involve when that happens.” He added, signing along.

“Let's have a talk Clint.”

“Sure.”  
“Do you have any interest at all in joining the circus.”

“What exactly does 'joining the circus' involve?”

“Well, as of this season we have two more stops in October ending with our Halloween bash in New York. The cast will get four months off from November to February although most of them practice almost constantly, rehearsals will pick up March and April May and June through October we tour.”

“Got it.”

“There are benefits, insurance, medical care, you would get paid March through October. It does require a lot of moving around. You may have to give up your residence here in Iowa.”

Clint thought for a minute, what did he have here? A reasonable apartment, a job with basically the same seasonal hours. There were a few of the guys from the team he's miss, but the internet existed.”

“Yeah, okay. I will.”

“Great, now there are two more people to check with. Colonel?” 

“Yeah I like him. Kid's good. We can do a lot with a sharpshooter.”

Clint hadn't really paid much attention to the two men a few feet away, assuming they were just crew members. Fury was almost unrecognizable out of his uniform, he still had no idea who the other man was though. 

“Welcome aboard.” Fury patted him on the back. “Have you met Tony.”

“No but I've heard his name around this place an awful lot.”

“Good so my reputation proceeds me.” A man with immaculately groomed facial hair and aviators reached to take his hand. 

“Tony Stark, owner of Fury's Circus. Sounds like you're working for me now.”

“Tony Stark? THE Tony Stark?”

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist in the flesh.”

“Then I hate to break it to you man, but I've been working for you for a while now. I've been with Humbolt construction for six years.”

“No kidding, you guys just finished my solar plant out here! Great! Then we already have your tax papers!” Tony's face lit up. “That's how you got so big and strapping isn't it? Did you guys do the windmills in Wisconsin or was that the Chicago branch?”

“That was Chicago.” 

“Great, awesome. Ever been to New York?”

“Nope.”

“We can work with that.”

“Coulson, make my new friend here happy. I gotta go look at one of the coils, Gwenny thinks one of them sounded a little off last night.”

“You got it boss, and if you find catch her with Pete again don't tell her dad this time. It's hard enough to find acrobats. Alright,” he turned to Clint and Natasha. “We have a lot to do Clint I'm sure more than both of us. Number one of those things is paperwork. I'll make some calls to Pepper to get your tax forms from Humbolt. In the mean time we can set you up in the business trailer and you can look over the rest of the forms. Don't worry about any moving just yet, technically you have until March to worry about getting anywhere. Then again you might want to consider starting a little earlier you have a lot more to learn. We can easily set you up with housing especially if you don't mind a dormitory for a few weeks.”

Coulson had a lot to say and Clint was trying to take it all in, but his mind was going a mile a minute.

“Overwhelmed?” Natasha gave a sympathetic smile. “One thing at a time, come on. The business trailer is nice. You can meet Peggy, Rhody and, Captain Stacy if he's in there. Coulson we'll catch up.”

“See you in a minute.” He was on his phone even as he turned to leave.

“I got you a little something. Well Steve and I did.” She handed him a roll of paper tied with a ribbon. He slid off the ribbon and unrolled it gently. It was a circus poster, not as professional as the others he had seen, but in the same bold comic-like style. Hawkeye Master Marksman, it boldly proclaimed. He was on there too, left of center bow pulled taut in a graceful arc. 

“You don't have to keep the name if you don't want to, I let Steve's imagination do most of the work and he's a huge college football fan.”

“I like it, I just don't know how to fire a bow.” 

“We can teach you.” 

“Okay, anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> epilogue forthcoming...


	4. Chapter 4

Three months later Clint had adjusted to life on the Circus campus. He decided he'd look for more permanent housing when the weather was warmer and he was more settled in. Until then, his little dormitory was comfortable and his neighbors were nice. Bruce and surprisingly Loki were very quiet people.

Loki, he learned, was a very polite very shy man named Tom and had he had studied and Julliard. Bruce was a vet and always seemed to have a new batch of animals staying with him. His perpetual crowd was Puff the rabbit, four rats Ray, Igon, Winston and Peter, Audrey and Katherine two particularly sweet mutts, Gamma a cockatiel and an injured raccoon named Rocket (who was missing a back foot from a fire cracker incident, and often spoiled by Bucky). 

He'd met two other new performers who moved in a week or so after him. Peitro and his twin sister Wanda relatives of Erik some how (he didn't ask). He'd learned the hard way not to accept any food related dares from Pietro, the kid had a cast iron stomach and was going to be one of their new side show acts. Clint got queasy at the kid's passing mention of working his way up to light bulbs some day. 

His sister was much more sensible, a practicing magician brought on to replace Kitty who decided to go back to school after all. Wanda was intense and a little spooky, but she was okay company once you got past all that. Clint suspected somebody had sent them to keep an eye on their aging family member, but neither one let on.

Most everyone else Natasha included had their own apartments elsewhere, although he'd learn many of them would stay over when practicing. This didn't stop her from showing up all the time anyway. He was a little embarrassed at first when she spotted her poster on his wall, but she had only smiled.

For as quiet as it was when nobody was around, it sure got loud at Christmas time, loud and considerably less safe to wander around in common areas or enter rooms without knocking. Tony liked to throw a big party every year for his crew and of course that meant everybody got back together, and get together they did.

He'd lost count of the times he caught Peter with Gwen or Harry (even though he was sure they lived together already), and on one particularly memorable occasion the three of them at once.

In addition to Bucky, Steve was fond of Peggy their tour manager, although the two of them were much more discreet. Bucky seemed to tail Johnny Storm everywhere when not with Steve, but Clint wasn't sure if anything was actually going on there besides Johnny going after any woman within a 10 foot radius. Sam seemed to like Steve too, and really, he should stop keeping track of the amount of people in that tangle of relationships.

Thor and Oro seemed friendly, but so did she and Kurt? Kitty got caught with the big Russian roustabout more than once and he was positive the puppeteers were all sleeping together.

The only person who didn't seem interested in swapping fluids with their cohorts was Natasha. Sure she was particularly friendly to Steve and Bruce, and Loki, and Erik? 

“It's like high school.” He complained to Natasha, his words muffled by his hands on his face. She smirked at him from across the couch.

“Aw, can't get a date Barton?” She toed his side, and he grabbed her foot and tugged her sock off

“Hey!” She squealed “My foot's gonna get cold!”

“Boo hoo.” he ribbed but wrapped a hand around it to keep it warm anyway. “You don't seem too busy with dates either.”

“Hey now, I could get anybody here I wanted, almost anybody here I wanted.”

“Okay then who can't you have?”

“Peggy.”

“What?!”

“Do you have eyes Barton? The woman's a walking WWII pin up!”

“Why, what?”

“She's straight as one of your arrows, and has her hands full with Steve and Sam, no Bucky though he just likes the cock...”

“Okay, okay!”

“What about you Clinton? I mean it's a whole gamut of attractive people, there has got to be someone? Harry stares at you a lot? He's a gymnast, very flexible.”

“Not my type.” He wiggled the sock back on Natasha's foot. She stared at him for a little bit, squinting her eyes and screwing up her face.

“Would your type happen to be girls kicked out of the ballet for having too much of an attitude?” She scooted across the couch to get closer to Clint. He just looked at her for a moment, apparently he hadn't been as good at hiding it as he thought. Then again, Natasha might as well be a spy.

“Only if they're red-heads.” He decided if she knew anyway there was no need to lie. 

“I'm glad this is pretty close to my natural hair color then.” Natasha leaned in, and when Clint didn't meet her halfway she closed the distance kissing him lightly. He didn't respond.

“Come on Barton, do you want to kiss me or not?”

“I do, I just can't believe I get to.”

“I can give you a second.” Natasha slid back to rest on the opposite arm of the couch again. 

“No, no, come back.” Clint chased after her stretching out beside her. He nestled his face in the crook of her neck. She just laughed. Throwing an arm around her middle and one underneath her he rolled her to face him completely. 

“You're weird Barton.”

“Shhh, I'm gonna kiss you now.”

“Okay go for it then tiger.” And he did, hand creeping up the back of her neck to tangle in her hair while one of hers slid along his bicep. 

“Nice kissing.” Natasha's voice was husky. 

“And we could have been doing that this whole time.” He punctuated the statement with a quick peck. 

“I think we better make up for all that lost time then.” She said with a wicked grin, and as she pulled him in for another kiss Clint couldn't help but agree.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm positive I'm forgetting characters or things that could be called relationships in the tags, forgive me.


End file.
